I'm talking with a friend of mine on the phone, and we are discussing Obamacare. And I'm reflecting on the vitriol that is flowing right now. And I'm online, and the channel is STILL filled with people acting like idiots and mods with banhammers set with hair triggers. The lefties are calling the righties intolerant, greedy, and racist. The righties are calling the lefties communists, naive, and tax and spenders.

ENOUGH ALREADY!!!

Jesus Christ, I can't leave you kids alone for a minute!

Let's get something straight about Obamacare right now -- the conflict is not about whether Obamacare, in principal, is right or wrong. Everyone would love free health care for all Americans. There is NO ONE who doesn't think that.

The question is whether Obamacare is the way to achieve it. News flash: the lefties that supposedly love Obamacare? Even they admit it has some things that make them uneasy. And the righties who hate Obamacare? Even they admit they would love to see some sort of reform and there might be some good ideas buried in that 1,200 pages. But instead of trying to hash this out, everyone is afraid that, if they admit anything other than total devotion to one side or the other, it's going to make them targets. And they have every reason to think that. BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT'S HAPPENING!!! There's no understanding, no discussion, no nothing because everyone is more interested in their self-righteousness than cooperation.

Democracy, which (despite what's happening on Capitol Hill) is what we live in, is founded on the idea that laws are to be mutually agreed upon so that people can do their thing without infringing on others. It's about working together, not absolute rule. We all are concerned about people going without health care. It's basic human nature to care for those who are less well off than you, it's baked into our brains. Where the argument is occurring is some people, the Obamacare supporters, see the need to get something, anything done. Something is better than nothing. The Obamacare opponents want to see something done, but would rather wait for something better. It's this "do it now" vs. "do it later" that is the conflict.

And it's driving a wedge between everyone.

Everyone in Washington is eating this up. Like they say in Men In Black, "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, and stupid." That means we can be taken advantage of. The D's are counting on the blind loyalty of their supporters to inflict their will on the country. The R's are counting on blind rage to gain a supermajority and inflict their will on the country. Our hatred makes us their puppets...we think we control them, but they just pull our strings and we dance the way they want.

We need to stop. We need to catch our breath here. We are exposing ourselves to harsh masters who don't give a shit about us. We need to recognize that Obamacare is just symptomatic of our good natures. We all want to help people, and there's no crime in that. The crime is when, instead of us trying to build off that common ground, we try to shove each other off of it. All for the amusement of the politicians watching us in the arena.

So, let's just clear our heads. We need to fix the bill, or, for people like me who want to repeal it, come up with a better alternative. My teacher used to tell me, "The only cure for bad ideas is better ideas." We need knowledge and wisdom here, folks. And we won't get it with our heads up our asses.